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For clarification I'll call myself out. Al Qaeda is the foremost terrorist group of concern, however the Taliban provide safe haven for them, support their activities, and are essentially partners in terrorism.

For clarification I'll call myself out. Al Qaeda is the foremost terrorist group of concern, however the Taliban provide safe haven for them, support their activities, and are essentially partners in terrorism.

So many terrorist, so few people to pull the trigger.

Here is to wishing you safe tour of duty and good hunting!
If I can help you with your puppy in anyway while you are serving, let me know.

You asked "What does the resurgence of the Taliban in 2009 have to do with the safety and security of the US?" These are people who publicly state that their sole interest in life is to cause us harm. (Which by the way is the same thing they repeatedly stated before 9/11, our bad for not taking care of business first). Do you think that our country, as well as our interests/citizens overseas, are steadfastly safe? Where there is a will, there is a way, especially when they are indiscriminant about targets.

As far as the administrations reasoning for build up...Rather than me post all the url's here, which I just deleted, a google search on-- obama, troops in afghanistan, resurgent-- will give you all you want. You said that you've followed the issue closely?? The resurgence of the Taliban is at the heart of the build up, a point which has been stated time and time again.

How do you propose that we handle the drug issue to cut off terrorist financing? As of this week they are bombing poppy crops. It's a boots on ground military job, since their own government cannot stop it.

I believe that under the Taliban in the nineties and first year or two of 2000 that poppy production was at an all-time low. And yet, 9/11... Then, when the Taliban were under attack, poppy production again rose.

My point is: none of this is a strict if-this-then-that computation.

I'm not questioning the motives of those being sent, nor do I think we're in an automatic failure situation.

I'm just saying that based on a more-than-average number of lengthy interviews I've heard with generals and administration officials in recent weeks, I'd like more clarification from my government as to why people I know and kids I've taught are being put in harm's way. What I've heard is just not convincing me, and all of the googling in the world is not going to sway me if I continue to spend 5 or 10 radio minutes listening to inadequacy every couple of days.

If everyone else is happy with the explanations, well--good. Be happy; perhaps you are wiser than I am. But I guess I've become middle-aged, because I've come to the conclusion that I'll only be happy when I'm good and ready.

Excuse me? Bush had 7 years to win a victory or even come up with a plan for victory and could not do it, how do you expect Obama to do it in 6 months?

1) They have had the opportunity to review all the things that don't work.
2) They can draw upon the most knowledgeable strategists who have observed the things that have not worked, and could provide the alternative strategies that could work.
3) Their campaign rhetoric implied that they knew how to employ the correct strategy.

Truthfully, we have a lot of material on what will NOT work in trying to bring A'stan intot he 21st century. We could surely learn a lot from the Soviet failures. In fact, we were actually involved with the forces that sent the Soviets home. We should certainly have gained knowledge from that experience.

I can't believe that our military is so devoid of military strategists to not use the lessons learned from history. If I am correct, then is there some other reason (i.e. political) that we are not doing better at this? Are the people sitting safe & cozy in DC not allowing the military to use the knowledge they have available?

G.Clinchy@gmail.com"Know in your heart that all things are possible. We couldn't conceive of a miracle if none ever happened." -Libby Fudim

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